From loss to H.O.P.E.S.: safeguarding the analysis of an eight-year-old boy with multiple diagnoses in foster care.

This paper traces the unfolding of the therapeutic relationship in the analysis of a boy with marked presenting difficulties in Foster Care and attempts to address the technical issues regarding psychoanalytic work with looked-after children but also with children who have experienced early deprivation and neglect. The patient's disrupted attachment history of early loss called for a gradual building of interpretative work in the context of his growing trust and sense of safety within the therapeutic relation. It will be shown how the differential use of the therapist as a transference, developmental and contemporary object enabled him to resume his "arrested" development, as it helped him reconnect with disowned feelings of rage, helplessness, as well as despair and longing for his lost objects. Emphasis will be particularly placed on the use of Countertransference, as at times the only means to be in touch with the patient's predicament and affective experiences which have been preverbal and possibly unverbalizable.